INVESTIGADORES
TATO Maria Ines
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
"When neutrality was put into question: The 1917 debates over Argentine foreign policy"
Autor/es:
MARÍA INÉS TATO
Lugar:
Lisboa
Reunión:
Conferencia; International Conference The Neutrals; 2015
Institución organizadora:
Instituto de História Contemporánea de la Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Resumen:
As all the Latin American countries, Argentina adopted a neutral foreign policy at the outbreak of the First World War. This position regarding the conflict was rooted in several considerations. In the first place, it was consistent with the country's diplomatic tradition. In second place, it tried to preserve the commercial links with all the belligerent nations. Finally, it aimed to avoid cultural tensions in a cosmopolitan society, formed by almost a 30 percent of immigrants.In spite of this official policy, civil society showed a high level of commitment toward the Great War, taking sides with one or another belligerent party and leading an intense cultural mobilisation. Nevertheless, cultural affinities with France or the German Empire did not imply putting neutrality into question. On the contrary, a "neutralist consensus" (Compagnon 2009) was built around that foreign policy, seen as the most suitable for the country.     The year 1917 marked a decisive turning point in the society's opinions about the government's policy toward the war. In February, the German Empire restarted the unrestricted submarine warfare, which had a double impact on Argentina. On the one hand, it determined the entry of the United States into the war on the Allied side, and the beginning of a continental campaign to align the Latin American countries under the motto of Pan-Americanism. On the other hand, it led to the sinking of three ships flying the Argentine flag, with a subsequent diplomatic conflict with Germany. The sum of these two factors had enormous effects on the public opinion. The Argentine government made immediate claims to Germany, which were entirely satisfied. Nevertheless, the crisis reached its peak in September, as a consequence of the dissemination of several telegrams sent to his government by the Minister of Germany in Argentina, the Count Karl von Luxburg. They had been intercepted and deciphered by the British intelligence services, and made public by the United States to pressure the Argentine government. In those telegrams, the Count of Luxburg alluded in injurious terms to the Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen and to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honorio Pueyrredón. He also recommended continuing with the submarine warfare against Argentine vessels but "without leaving a trace". Finally, he suggested a tacit agreement with Yrigoyen to prevent Argentine ships entering the exclusion zone in the future. These new circumstances broke the neutralist consensus prevailing until then, and gave foreign policy a great significancein public agenda. The "European war" transmuted into a conflict that affected Argentina in a direct way, and gave place to a deep polarization between the defenders of neutrality and those demanding the severance of diplomatic relations with the German government. "Neutralists" and "rupturists" were the protagonists of an active political mobilisation, which put in discussion Argentine foreign policy, and appealed to nationalism. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that -in spite of these public controversies, and of external and internal pressures- Yrigoyen's administration maintained neutrality until the end of the First World War.  This paper intends to reconstruct the bitter debates around neutrality that developed in Argentina after the 1917 crisis. It will take into account the arguments advanced by both blocs of public opinion, expressed by prominent intellectuals in speeches, leaflets and books.